Trevor Lawrence proves why he is 'real deal' in preseason finale

Trevor Lawrence showed why he was the No. 1 overall pick in April’s NFL Draft on Sunday. The Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback was on the field for three possessions against the Dallas Cowboys, and two resulted in touchdowns.

After the Jags offense seemed to be stuttering in the opening two preseason games of the season, Lawrence threw his first NFL touchdown in the preseason finale on Sunday.

On the opening drive of the game, Lawrence completed all three of his passes for 62 yards. The drive ended on an impressive touchdown pass from Lawrence to Pharoh Cooper. His second score of the day came on the second drive, this time when the former Clemson quarterback found wide receiver Laviska Shenault in the corner of the end zone.

NFL.com walked away impressed with Lawrence’s performance. He completed 11 of his 12 pass attempts with 139 yards, two touchdowns and a 154.5 passer rating.

“Trevor Lawrence is the real deal,” NFL.com’s Nick Shook observed. “Lawrence compiled his best performance of the preseason Sunday, looking every bit like the No. 1 overall pick in leading two touchdown drives. His second scoring march was his most impressive, as he connected with Laviska Shenault Jr. on a trio of completions, with the final — a perfectly placed pass to Shenault on a corner route — going for a touchdown.”

“Lawrence was red hot, repeatedly delivering passes on time and on target while working with a slight advantage of having some of Jacksonville’s starters at his disposal. After trading Gardner Minshew to Philadelphia, Jacksonville took its first step forward with Lawrence in charge Sunday. The rookie delivered and appears ready to embark on his first professional season.”

Jacksonville names Trevor Lawrence starting quarterback

Lawrence left Clemson as the winningest quarterback in school history. As a freshman in 2018, he led the Tigers to a national championship, throwing for more than 3,000 yards and 30 touchdowns.

In his three-year Clemson career, Lawrence completed two-thirds of his passes for 10,098 yards, 108 total touchdowns and 17 interceptions. He also had 943 yards rushing. While it was expected that Lawrence would be Jacksonville’s starting quarterback this season, the official announcement did not come until Wednesday.

“It was good,” Lawrence said of the feeling of being named Jacksonville’s starter. “We talked about our QB room, and we just have a great group so I’m really excited for the opportunity. It doesn’t really change anything, though. We’ve still got the same task in front of us. We’ve got to get a lot better – individually, as a team and as an offense.

“Just looking forward to going to work this week. It brings some clarity, which is nice going forward. But it doesn’t really change much.”